Riley blasts Celtics' Ainge over comments about LeBron

NEW ORLEANS — Those violent blows absorbed Wednesday by LeBron James were nothing compared to the haymaker Miami Heat President Pat Riley threw Friday at Boston Celtics General Manager Danny Ainge.

In the wake of James complaining about dangerous fouls committed by the Chicago Bulls in Wednesday's Heat loss at the United Center, Ainge during a Thursday Boston radio interview on WEEI said, "I think that it's almost embarrassing that LeBron would complain about officiating."

That had Riley, through Heat spokesman Tim Donovan, responding Friday, "Danny Ainge needs to shut the f--- up and manage his own team."

Riley continued, also as related through the Heat spokesman, with, "He was the biggest whiner going when he was playing and I know that because I coached against him."

While with the Los Angeles Lakers, Riley coached against Ainge, then a Celtics guard, in the 1984, '85 and '87 NBA Finals.

Heat center Chris Bosh said he was "surprised" by Riley's choice of expletive, but added, "We always know he has our back."

Of his former team and his current team going at it, Heat guard Ray Allen said, "That's been Danny and Pat. They obviously have a lot of history.

"We've got to deal with what we've got to deal with, and they've got to deal with what they've got to deal with."

Earlier, Spoelstra said his team won't back down in the face of physical play.

No sooner did James question the lack of flagrant-foul calls on hard hits he took from Kirk Hinrich and Taj Gibson in Wednesday's loss, a loss that snapped the Heat's 27-game winning streak, the pushback around the league was to question the Heat's ability to handle such physicality.

Looking ahead to Friday night's game at New Orleans Arena, New Orleans Hornets coach Monty Williams noted, "Obviously, everybody is going to think the blueprint is to go out there and knock them out the way that Chicago did, but that's easier said than done."

As for Gibson, he told ESPN Radio of James' complaints, "I think he's too good of a player to do that. You just play, two teams really going out there and play hard, going to the basket extremely hard and physical."

By Friday morning, James had moved on, even if Riley had not.

"I stated what I felt and I left it at that," he said. "I haven't even gone on about it at all. I know everything that I say is going to be either blown out of proportion or taken the wrong way. But I had to say what I had to say and I move on."

Of Ainge's comment, James said at the morning shootaround, "Not surprised to hear anything from Boston. No, not surprised at all."

While James attempted to sidestep the ensuing fallout, Spoelstra attacked it with the same force James utilized when he barreled his way through a Carlos Boozer screen and was called for a flagrant foul of his own in that loss to the Bulls.

"We're well aware of what everybody's game plan is against us, and that's to prevent layups and dunks and highlight plays at all costs," Spoelstra said. "A lot of times those result in hard fouls. We'll have our guys' backs, but we don't need anybody's help and we're not afraid of anybody's game plan against us.

"We're going to continue to play our aggressive game and we know how teams will play against us. We'll have our teammates' protection. But we won't do anything out of the norm with basketball rules, and our guys will continue to attack."

Asked of a blueprint that involves increased physicality by opponents, Spoelstra said force would be met by force.

"If the other teams' game plans are going to be that, we're going to continue to make it tough for officials to make calls and decisions, because there's going to be contact, there will be collisions," Spoelstra said. "We're going to attack, and usually, you're rewarded for that type of aggressiveness. And we get to the free-throw line, so we don't need anybody's help."

Spoelstra said the Heat did not air any grievances with the league following the Bulls game. An NBA official told the Sun Sentinel the calls in the Bulls game would stand, without any additional flagrant fouls assessed, without James' flagrant being downgraded.